To be near unto God - pagina 38

higher knowledge of the nobler elements of human hfe? Just as little as a deaf man cares for a "Bach, or a blind man for the works of art by a

x^d what apphes to individuals applies to nations. When nations fail of ideals, they degenerate into materialism and sensualism, and shut themselves off from the higher They make no progress themselves and can life. not influence other nations for the better. Indeed, they retrograde and drag other nations down with themselves. This can differ in one age from another with the same people. In the sixteenth century the Netherlands fostered high ideals, and exerted noble and inspiring influences upon all of Western Europe. In the eighteenth century they degenerated and carried no blessing to other nations in any sense. And whether a nation is swayed by high ideals, depends on God. When he sends forth the breath of nobler aims and purposes upon a people, desires are quickened after the higher ends of life, and people are lifted up by the knowledge of nobler human existence. When he takes that breath away, the understanding is dulled, and all nobler knowledge fails. In an ideal sense God can draw a people to himself and impart something of his Raphael or Rembrandt,

own Divine

life

to

it.

And He can withdraw and

leave a people alone to its own hurt. In the latter case the loss of higher and nobler knowledge is inexorable. And so we arrive at the same result. By seeing and observing, a part of our knowledge But the part of higher and is in our own power. nobler knowledge God alone can impart. As we apply this to ourselves we see at once that this Divinely-imparted knowledge comes by 34

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